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Creatr HS series - How to Level Your Bed "On the Fly"

Modified on: Thu, 30 Jun, 2016 at 7:48 AM

This solution article is for those who want a more accurate method of leveling your Creatr HS series print bed. It involves leveling your print bed while actually printing one of our provided .GCODE files attached to this article.

Note: Some photos and/or videos may be added later to help explain. If you feel like you need these, please let us know and well bump up it's priority on the "things-to-do" list.

People sometimes complain that using the bed calibration method with a piece of paper under the nozzles isn't very accurate. This article will tell you how you can see the results of your print bed level adjustments as you are printing one of our short .GCODE files specifically designed for leveling the bed as the .GCODE is running.

(What you'll be printing to level the bed "on the fly.")

Download the .ZIP file attached to this article. Inside, you'll see four .GCODE files that correspond to how you have your filament loaded in your printer (at least ABS or PLA; our apologies for not adding others): there is a PLA-RIGHT, a PLA-LEFT, an ABS-RIGHT, and an ABS-LEFT .GCODE file included in this .ZIP file.

Save any or all of the .GCODE files to a USB memory stick (you never know when you'll need to level and already have a certain filament loaded in the printer).

Prepare the printer. Go ahead and select the Preheat option in the Stand-Alone display menu. Also, make sure that the print bed has adhesive material applied. We use our Leapfrog MAXX 3D Essentials Spray (available only in Europe at this time). Also, if you do not already have PLA or ABS loaded into one of the extruders, please do so at this time.

Once the printer is preheated, select the .GCODE file that describes your filament load setup, and the print should soon start running.

Prepare to make adjustments to all four corners of the print bed, locating the four bed level adjustment knobs located under the print bed. The extruder may prime during the entire first left-to-right movement, so you likely will only start seeing filament actually extruding just before the print head gets to the front-right corner.

From here, you will wait until it starts to travel to the back right corner before making any adjustments.

This is what you're looking for:

◄Too Low►

If the filament being extruded looks like angel hair pasta noodles and not sticking very well to the bed OR seems to only be building up on the nozzle but not even being deposited on the glass, then the bed is likely too low in that corner. However, un-even nozzles could also cause the opposite nozzle to tear the printed material off the print bed. If you think this is occurring, please consider using the following solution article link to correct the issue: How to Align Your Creatr HS / HS XL Extruders

Material also may not stick due to not enough adhesive material present on the bed.

◄Too High►

If the filament does not look like it is even being extruded, or is very very thin (creating a transparent smudge on the glass), it is very likely that your print bed is too high in that corner.

Note: there are several other causing for filament not extruding, so contact Technical Support if you can not figure out why filament is not extruding, even after you've lowered that corner to where the nozzle isn't even touching the glass.

To lower a corner, turning the adjustment knob for that corner in a clockwise motion (from the perspective of looking straight down at the print bed). Therfore, to raise a corner, turn the adjustment knob for that corner in a counter-clockwise motion.

We highly recommend small adjustments.

Do no worry, the print head will make several trips giving you enough time to adjust each corner. In addition, after it prints the boarders, it will also print a spiral for more fine tuning.

Because this .GCODE is so short, we sometimes recommend people run it at least twice (or once after making any adjustments).

Here's a video showing the process:

You'll notice in the video that we slightly run our finger over the lines to check and see if the filament is sticking. Again, if the printed lines are loose in a corner (and you've applied adhesive material there before hand), then the corner is too low. If an entire side is not sticking then both corners of that side are low. Please take care not to get your hand caught by the print head or the print head carriage assembly as the Technical Support Agent almost does in the video. ☺

Clean the printed lines from the bed after the print finishes. If you are happy with the level of each corner, then you're good to go. If you plan on running a dual color print, we recommend that you run the calibration with the other extruder too - do not make adjustments to the bed. This will show you how aligned your nozzles are. See the solution article link mentioned above if you find that the other nozzle is not aligned.